What is Flightradar24
Flightradar24 is a website and mobile application that lets you track any flight in the world, providing up-to-the minute information about its progress.
With Flightradar24, you’ll have immediate access to valuable details such as flight numbers, routes taken by planes onto their destinations, current status of said airplanes and even type of plane!
By leveraging Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) receivers and multilateration (MLAT), the website and app are able to give you reliable, up-to-date details on all varieties of aircraft – commercial, private, or military – across the globe.
Flightradar24 is an invaluable asset for those in the aviation industry, travelers, and even aircraft enthusiasts! It makes it simple to get a plethora of information including flight plans, weather overlays and registrations.
Additionally, you can use Flightradar24 to easily trail specific flights such as one that your traveling companion might be on or if you need to keep tabs on your own journey.
How to Use Flightradar24 to Find a Flight
Here are the steps to find a flight on Flightradar24:
- Go to the Flightradar24 website or open the mobile app.
- On the homepage, you will see a map of the world with aircraft icons representing flights. You can zoom in and out on the map to view flights in a specific area.
- To search for a specific flight, click on the “Search” button on the top right corner of the page.
- In the search bar, type in the flight number, airline name, or the departure and arrival airports.
- Once you have entered your search, press the “Enter” key on your keyboard or click on the “Search” button.
- The flight you searched for will be highlighted on the map, and you can click on it to view more information about the flight.
You can also filter flights by airline, aircraft type, altitude and more. You can also see the flight history, flight path and flight status.
It is important to understand that Flightradar24 operates based on data from a network of ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) receivers and not every flight can be monitored in real time. Furthermore, the access to information may differ pending on the location or type of aircraft.
How Accurate is Flightradar24
When an aircraft is flying out of coverage Flightradar24 keeps estimating the position of the aircraft for up to 2 hours if the destination of the flight is known. For aircraft without known destination, position is estimated for up to 10 minutes.
When an airplane is out of range, Flightradar24 can accurately estimate its whereabouts for up to two hours if the flight’s endpoint is known. On the other hand, aircrafts with unknown destinations , it’s position will only be estimated for up to ten minutes.
Although the position is usually precise, based on many different factors, during longer trips it can be as far as 100 km (55 miles) from reality in rare cases.
Different Color Plan Icons
Yellow
Planes tracked by the its transponder and terrestrial receivers are yellow.
Blue
Satellite-based ADS-B flights are identifiable with blue plane icons. When you click on the icon of a flight tracked by satellite, further information about it and its data source can be easily accessed. You will also receive comprehensive tracking details for this particular flight path.
Red
A plane icon will be red because it’s delayed, experiencing radio failure(7600) or has squawked an emergency ( 7700).
Is Flightradar24 Free?
Yes, the base service of tracking planes with various details about flights is free. It’s called “Basic Service”.
Flightradar24 does offer paid services that have more robust data including past flight information going back a year. Find the offerings here: flightradar24.com/premium
Can Flightradar24 Track Military Aircraft?
Yes Flightradar24 can track military aircraft but definitely not all the planes currently flying. You will only see what the military wants you to see for obvious security reasons. There are two key factors that define whether any aircraft will show up on FlightRadar24 and any other tracking site for that matter:
- A plane may choose to turn off their transponder. Unlike civil aircraft, military planes are often exempt from regulations that require them to have an active transponder. However, depending on their mission objectives and requirements, some may nevertheless be equipped with a working transponder.
- Although the majority of civil aircrafts have updated transponders, military planes are usually exempt again. As a result, flight tracking hardware which is used to feed these sites cannot be applied to older transponders that require a spinning radar dish in order to find their location and can not be triangulated by static receivers.
The transponder is also the reason some commercial flights will not show up on Flightradar24. It’s either not compatible, got turned off or is malfunctioning. Planes can also fly out of Flightradar24’s coverage as well and will never no be tracked.
How to Track Military Aircraft with Flightradar24
Below is a step by step guide on how to track military aircraft by the countries military call sign:
- Go to the Flightradar24 website or open the mobile app.
- On the bottom center of the page, you will see a button labeled “Filters”, click on it.
- Make sure to have ‘Call sign(Airline)’ selected.
- Type in one of these Call Signs. RCH for US Air Force, CAF for Canadian Air Force, RAF for Royal Air Force.
- Hit Enter to populate the map.
- When no longer using the filter make sure to click the X icon in the ‘Saved Filters’ section to remove the current one and select a new one.
In summary, Flightradar24 is a fantastic platform for tracking flights both non-commercial and military. It’s simple to use and comes with plenty of valuable features like color coded plane symbols, postponed flights information and beyond. Thanks to this software you can observe nearly any aircraft from civilians or the armed forces.